Iolani Alumni

The Iolani Girls Basketball team reached the finals of the 2008 Hawaii State Basketball Tournament, but fell to the Punahou Buffanblu 46-41 in a tight game that wasn’t decided until the last few minutes.

Behind the hot shooting of senior Chanel Hirata, who finished with a team-high 18 points, the Raiders built a 16-8 lead after one quarter and a held on for a 23-16 lead at the half. In the second half, the Buffanblu toughened up on the defense end and slowly closed the margin, taking the lead midway through the fourth. Iolani was outscored 13-4 in the final quarter with all 4 points coming from the line.

The Raiders finished the season at 15-3 and were second in the ILH and State.

[Photo: Honolulu Advertiser]

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The Iolani Boys team finished in a controversial 5th (or 6th) after Moanalua ended their championship run in the quarterfinals of the 2008 Hawaii State Basketball tournament. The Menehune, though, were later found to have played with an ineligible player which forced a forfeit of their two opening round victories.

Despite the forfeit, the results of the previous games were not altered and the Raiders were kept out of the semifinals and forced to play their final two games for fifth. Iolani went on to defeat Kamehameha-Maui 81-60 then fell to Kamehameha-Oahu on Saturday afternoon in the fifth place game, but because the Menehune were suspended from the tournament (due to the forfeits), the 4th place position was left vacant. There was no official word on where the teams finished.

Iolani ended their season unofficially at 13-3 (with the forfeit) and were the 2008 ILH Champions.